Chapter 50 Aria #2
“General Sade declared that with two pregnant princesses residing within the palace, we must show extreme caution with who we let past these doors.” The corner of Karina’s mouth lifts in a mocking smile. “We all know that Princess Aria has never exactly fit in.”
My fingers curl into my palms as I resist the urge to let my talons show as my magic begins to gather low in my throat. I stare at them, my muscles tense with the anticipation of an attack when Hova lifts her spear and swims back to her side of the door.
“Let her through before you earn Sade’s wrath. She’s been crankier than usual.” Karina relents though doesn’t mask her snicker of disapproval. I roll my shoulders back and swim past them, their attitudes forgotten at the chaos that immediately greets me.
Inside, the palace is bustling with more sirens than I have ever seen here at once, despite the late hour.
And all of them are legionaries. Shit. My eyes dart from female to female, my pulse fluttering in my chest as I wait for the moment they realize I’m among them.
If Nia has already informed Sade or Allegra of my betrayal, then surely, they will apprehend me the moment they see me.
Yet, though a few of them look my way, they spare me nothing more than a cursory glance.
I cautiously glide forward, water and bubbles sliding along my skin as I make my way through the throng of gathered legionaries. If they aren’t here for me…
“They say they can pass through the Spell now!” one says as she swims by me.
“Can we trust it? How do we know it is actually true?”
More murmurs of the Spell—of the first group of legionaries that came back changed—ring in my ear as I pass, the reason for those gathered abundantly clear now. An involuntary shiver draws my shoulders up to my ears. My mother hadn’t wasted time informing everyone of what Rhea did.
I pass by the yellow sea glass door of the throne room, stopping in front of it for just a moment before the sound of Allegra’s voice on the other side sends me scrambling to the ramp up to the second floor.
Lyre’s bedroom is on the opposite end of the hall from my own, and relief hits me when I find her door open, my sister sitting on her bed.
“Aria,” she says, giving me a soft smile.
I shut the door behind me as I enter, taking in her room as I make my way to the bed.
Its layout is similar to my own, only larger and decorated with pale shades of purple, yellow, and pink.
On the wall behind the bed is a mosaic of crystals made to look like a flaring sun.
Their light is subtle, setting the room in a soft glow of gold.
Unlike the barebones room of Sade’s and the mismatched quality of mine, Lyre’s space is one that represents her.
“How are you feeling?” I ask, settling in next to her.
“Tired,” she answers with a chuckle, leaning back on her hands, “but well.” Her eyes shift to mine. “How are you?”
“Fine.” She sends me a look that says, liar, but I shake my head and gesture to her belly. “And the little one?”
“She’s moving a ton now. Particularly while I’m trying to sleep.” I laugh, my own tension seeping away while I watch emotions play across her face. Happiness. Excitement. Joy. But then her smile shrinks and her brows draw low over her eyes.
“What is it?”
“Whatever Mother is planning has me nervous,” she starts, shifting to sit up.
I join her, my gaze meeting hers in concern.
“It was one thing when what she preached was all talk—the ramblings of a female lost in her own rage. But to hear that she is one step closer to getting what she wants… Aria, I don’t know if it’s safe for us to do this anymore. ”
My throat constricts tightly. “What?”
“She is becoming more powerful, and if she gets what she wants on land? There is no telling the lengths she’ll go to in order to ensure her reach into every part of Olymazi. That will include us,” she says, her hands cradling her belly more tightly.
“We can do this,” I counter, my hand laying on top of hers. “Lyre, I promise. We will do it.”
“How? How can we hope to hide when she’s been growing her legion? Every day, more are forced to join, and now that they will have the ability to walk through the Spell and live? This is more than we ever could have planned for. More than I can ask of you—”
“I’ve been meeting with a fae.” The confession comes tumbling out of me, but I don’t panic at what I’ve said. Instead, I feel lighter, a weight lifted from my chest.
Lyre’s mouth opens, then shuts, her brows scrunching together. “What?”
I leap into the tale of how Myla and I met, what I’ve been doing in the weeks since that fateful day, and how it is strengthening my hope in our escape. “She hates me, but she’s fulfilling her end of the deal,” I tell her, clutching the silky strands of sea kelp that stuff her bed.
Lyre’s expression doesn’t shift from her initial shock, and when I finish telling her everything related to Myla, I wait through glacial seconds for her to pass judgement on me. But then a smile breaks over her face, her amethyst eyes sparkling as she draws me in for a tight hug.
“You actually fucking obtained a life debt from a fae?”
“Does everyone but me know what that is?” I ask, laughing when she draws back and wraps her hands around my shoulders, giving me a gentle shake.
“What is she like? Myla.” She says her name as if its syllables are foreign on her tongue.
I tip my head to the side as I picture her.
Her cutting looks and even sharper tongue.
The way she makes me feel like I’m impossibly naive.
“She’s brutal,” I start, making Lyre frown.
“And mean. I’m the spike in her side that she’s forced to live with until the deal is met and she can dig me out.
But she’s also ruthless in a way that is inspiring.
” Myla’s anger towards me is as earned as it is frustrating, but I don’t think even she realizes that her curtness draws out a defiance of my own.
“Aria.” Lyre’s voice pulls me from my own head, my heart rapidly beating for an entirely different reason. One I can’t even begin to reconcile with.
“Sorry,” I rush out quickly, clearing my throat. “But we can do this together, Lyre.”
“I have to say, Sister, I underestimated you.”
“It’s alright—”
“No, it isn’t. I’ve tried my best to protect you in all the ways I thought wouldn’t be obvious to our mother.
And I know that it still hasn’t been enough.
I know that. But despite what you think about yourself, you are so much stronger than you’ve ever given yourself credit for. Than I have given you credit for.”
Emotions clog my throat and threaten tears to form in my eyes, but I fend them off as I duck my head. “There is one more thing,” I whisper, earning a surprised chuckle.
“What, are you going to tell me that you’ve struck some sort of deal with the shifters now?”
“Not exactly. This has to do with Nia and the seamount sirens.” The mention of them sobers the moment. Lyre’s spine straightens as her face shifts into a serious expression so quickly, I could almost laugh.
“What about them?”
“Nia found my cave a while ago and has been using its existence to blackmail me. She tasked me with retrieving their confiscated weapons.” I go on to tell her about the note I found earlier, how the threat was clear. It might already be too late.
Lyre’s eyes are sharp, her attention wholly focused on me. “Why didn’t you say anything sooner?”
“I didn’t think there was anything you could do to help me.
I also felt like, perhaps, this was my penance for not trying to do more, as Nia said.
Our mother drove her own people out to live in squalor, all because of a grudge she’s held for over two hundred years.
Nia’s chosen path may not be the most savory, but she isn’t necessarily wrong in what she’s trying to do. ”
“And what is that?”
“She wants to remove our mother from the throne.”
Lyre scoffs, running a hand through her lavender braids.
“Even if she could somehow manage that with her ragtag team of sirens, who would then be queen? Her? Because you know as well as I do that she isn’t going to ask you or I.
She’ll kill Allegra and Sade and likely keep Dyanna only to use as an information pet. ”
“Does it matter? As long as our mother is gone?”
“Yes,” she answers curtly, making me startle back.
She closes her eyes, moving a hand to cradle her belly.
“You have to think long term about something like this. Our mother is horrible by every standard, but she is a monster we know. To help put someone new on the throne, someone who already hates our family, would be just as dangerous. We don’t want to escape one tyrant only to be at the whims of a worse one. ”
“So what should I do, then?”
“We get the seamount sirens their weapons. Together. But we use them as a bargaining tool with Nia. She’s holding too much over your head without any real proof.
Even if she told Sade or our mother about the cave, there is no way to tie you to it unless you have personal items there.
” I shake my head. Everything the cave once contained were items I found.
Nothing of it is actually mine. “We get the weapons, and then we ask for our guaranteed safety through whatever she and her sirens are planning. Safety whether we stay here or continue forward with our plan to leave.”
My apprehension with not only this plan but entangling Lyre in it must show on my face because my sister sighs and reaches over to grab my hand.
“Didn’t I say this will only work if we trust each other? I’m pregnant, Aria, but not incapable. I’m still as vicious as I’ve ever been. Perhaps even more so now.” She pats her belly. “We are not weak.” Her eyes sparkle with undeniable determination. “Let us plan the beginnings of a coup.”